Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I'm getting a little ahead of myself given I haven't run anything yet but I'm starting to think about gin.

I have a milk can boiler and was wondering how big of a risk is scorching? I've got some ideas to cover the elements if it's unavoidable.

2nd question is how much of a pain is it to clean a boiler/column after running botanicals?

Basically I'm trying to work out if I should get a carter head or not. I don't want another boiler/still so if scorching/cleaning is going to be too much of a pain then a carter head is probably where I'll end up (or maybe an air still).


Thanks

I have the same boiler as you and have only scorched 1 stripping run running both elements at 100% on a dirty all grain wash. I would be more concerned if it was a gas burner.

The elements were easily cleaned with a 20min soak in citric acid / water mix.

I do my small batch gin in an air still fyi.

BigRig wrote:I have the same boiler as you and have only scorched 1 stripping run running both elements at 100% on a dirty all grain wash. I would be more concerned if it was a gas burner.

The elements were easily cleaned with a 20min soak in citric acid / water mix.

I do my small batch gin in an air still fyi.

Sounds promising

Do you use the air still because of the batch size?

I have done half dozen gin macerations never scorched.
Like bigrig have only scorched muddy all grain mash..

MattSmith wrote:

BigRig wrote:I have the same boiler as you and have only scorched 1 stripping run running both elements at 100% on a dirty all grain wash. I would be more concerned if it was a gas burner.

The elements were easily cleaned with a 20min soak in citric acid / water mix.

I do my small batch gin in an air still fyi.

Sounds promising

Do you use the air still because of the batch size?

Yeah mate. I can do an easy 4L batch on the kitchen bench while making dinner.

I use a turbo boiler to do small runs of macerations

The Stig wrote:I use a turbo boiler to do small runs of macerations

:text-+1:

Cheers

I have a milk can boiler, as well as a small digiboil for smaller gin runs.

Given you will need a least 10 litres in the boiler after the run you will need to do big runs.

A second small boiler may be a lot cheaper than a Carter head. I also have only ever scorched a dirty angel yeast wash

Matt,

I have a 4” gin basket with 2” TC inlet/outlet I want to sell if you’re interested, i’ll post a pic tomorrow if you like?

Cheers

iOnaBender wrote:Matt,

I have a 4” gin basket with 2” TC inlet/outlet I want to sell if you’re interested, i’ll post a pic tomorrow if you like?

Cheers

I would have been super tempted last week but I just bought an air still.

I decided I don't need to run large batches of gin and I hate cleaning so keeping the botanicals separate makes sense for now.

MattSmith wrote:

iOnaBender wrote:Matt,

I have a 4” gin basket with 2” TC inlet/outlet I want to sell if you’re interested, i’ll post a pic tomorrow if you like?

Cheers

I would have been super tempted last week but I just bought an air still.

I decided I don't need to run large batches of gin and I hate cleaning so keeping the botanicals separate makes sense for now.

ha ha, i also have a 4" gin basket gathering dust the same as iOna.
since going over to the masceration method using odins methodology, i only do 2-4 litre runs in a dedicated 5L still.
it's great for experimenting with different botanicals.
the airstill should be good for mascerated gin runs.